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The topic ofsubliminalperception (perception without awareness) is investigated in this thesis. A technique of masking by visual noise was developed for use with an IBM-type microcomputer and VGA screen. This technique was used to investigate whether subliminal mood priming influences subjects' resolution oflexical ambiguity in a homophone task designed by Halberstadt et al. (1995). Limited evidence was found for mood-congruent priming, but only for negative emotional priming, and with the most strongly negative items. Some non-specific effects were also found to be associated with negative mood priming. The mood-priming effect was correlated with the negative emotional ratings of these items obtained from a separate group ofsubjects. In a Follow-up study, a self-report mood scale was used to assess subjects' reaction to both negative and positive subliminal stimuli. A pattern oftrends was found which suggested that subjects experienced a paradoxical improvement in mood after exposure to the negative stimulus. No changes were observed in the group exposed to the positive stimuli. A theoretical explanation was entertained which suggested that subjects adaptively attributed their change in affective arousal in terms of experimental demands. of A number ofrelationships to recent research were suggested by these experiments, in particular the finding of a preattentive bias for negative information in subjects with anxiety and non-clinical depression by Bradley et al., (1994, 1995) and Mogg et al.,(1993). It is suggested that measures ofphysiological and cortical arousal should receive attention in future research in order to clarify the response to subliminal stimulation in terms of affective arousal. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1997.

This study was undertaken in an attempt to assess the Affect Intensity Measure (AIM) as a simpler alternative to the Overexcitability Questionnaire (OEQ) as a measure of emotional intensity in high ability young people. Participants were 30 young adolescents from grade 6 to grade 11 from the McGill Summer "Explorations" Program for the gifted, 75 undergraduate students and 46 doctoral students from various departments of McGill University. The Affect Intensity Measure was administrated to all three groups. There were no affect-intensity differences among the three groups of participants. Affect Intensity Measures particularly failed to distinguish gifted and nongifted groups. This result was inconsistent with previous studies using Overexcitability Questionnaire. There were gender differences but no age differences in affect intensity. The gender differences result was also inconsistent with the findings in several earlier studies using Overexcitability Questionnaire in which no gender differences in overexcitability were found among the gifted. Reasons why the AIM was not found to be an adequate substitute for the OEQ are explored, with the present samples, and possibly in general.

Are there aspects of affect that can be generalized across different languages? Are there consistent patterns of associations between self-reported affect and personality across groups speaking different languages? In the present dissertation, I explore these two questions in five different language samples. Studies of current self-reported affect in English suggest that Russell's (1980), Thayer's (1989), Larsen and Diener's (1992), and Watson and Tellegen's (1985) models of affect variables can be integrated and summarized by a two-dimensional space defined by Pleasant vs Unpleasant and Activated vs Deactivated axes. To assess the cross-language generalizability of this integrated structure, data on translations of the English affect scales (N for Spanish = 233, N for Chinese = 487, N for Japanese = 450, N for Korean = 365) were compared with the structure in English ON = 535). Systematic and random errors were controlled through multi-format measurements (Green, Goldman, & Salovey, 1993) and structural equation modeling. Individual measurement models as defined in English received support in all five languages, although revisions of these scales in non-English samples provided an even closer approximation to the two-dimensional structure in English. In all five languages, the two dimensions explained most, but not all, of the reliable variance in other affect variables (mean = 88%). The four structural models fit comfortably within the integrated two-dimensional space. In fact, the variables fell at different angles on the integrated space, suggesting a new circumplex structure. In prior studies conducted in English, the personality traits of Neuroticism and Extraversion were most predictive of affect and they aligned with the Pleasant Activated and Unpleasant Activated states. To clarify and extend the previous findings, participants in all five samples also completed NEO FFI (Costa & McCrae, 1992), a measure for the Five Factor Model of personality (FFM). Again, Neuroticism and Extraversion were most predictive of affect, accounting for, on average, 10% of the variance. The remaining three factors of the FFM contributed, on average, 2%. In all five languages, the FFM dimensions did not align with the two predicted affective dimensions. Rather, they fell all around the upper half of the twodimensional space.

The study was designed to examine the hypothesis that psychopathy is associated with an affective deficit. Subjects were 42 incarcerated offenders divided into nonpsychopathic and psychopathic groups based on their scores on the Hare Revised Psychopathy Checklist (Hare, 1991). Facial expressions, central and peripheral physiological activity, and subjective ratings of affective valence and arousal were measured during exposure to a series of slides and film clips designed to elicit either positive or negative affective states. The results indicate that psychopaths do not differ from criminal controls in their affective self-report, autonomic nervous system response, or observed facial expressions to emotional stimuli. However, with respect to cerebral asymmetry, psychopaths failed to show relative right frontal activation during exposure to the disgust film. This result is discussed in relation to recent attempts to explain psychopathy in terms of lateralized cerebral dysfunction.

This study investigates the impact of crowding on frontline service employees. In particular, this study examines how customer crowding affects frontline service employees’ stress, emotions, job performance, and displayed emotions. This study pioneers a new avenue by investigating employee (as opposed to consumer) reactions to customer crowding and addressing the gap in the literature on employees’ interaction with the physical environment. The underlying theoretical framework of the study is rooted in Lazarus’s (1966; 1991) model that links appraisal, emotional response, and coping in a sequential process. Applying theory to the context issue of customer crowding, the major constructs for this study are determined as: 1)the stressor (customer crowding), (2)appraisal,(3) emotions, (4)coping, and (5)service quality outcomes. The four major areas investigated in this study are: (1)stress levels of FSE due to customer crowding, (2)their emotions in the crowded service environment, (3)coping strategies they use under these circumstances, and(4)effects of such coping strategies on job performance and displayed emotions. A laboratory experiment is conducted with 200 frontline service employees where human density (a precursor to crowding)is manipulated via scenarios and videos. Analyzing the data via ANOVA, simple regression, and multiple regression, the results showed: (1)a positive relationship between crowding and stress, (2)an inverse relationship between positive emotions and stress, (3)a positive relationship between stress and negative emotions, (4) a negative impact of escape and confrontive coping strategies on service quality outcomes, and (5) a positive impact of distancing and social support on service quality outcomes. The contributions of the study are that: (1)it pioneers a new research avenue which opens avenues for future research, (2)it goes beyond the traditional Stimulus-Organism-Response approach to person-environment interaction and expands the domain of inquiry by incorporating the Lazarus transactional theory in the study of person-environment interaction, and (3)it provides a number of managerial implications regarding design of servicescapes to reduce the experience of crowding and training of frontline service employees on successful coping strategies.

This study examined the development of sharing and its associations with moral emotions in an ethnically diverse sample of 244 4-, 8-, and 12-year-old children. Sharing was measured through participants’ allocation of resources in the dictator game. Participants completed self-report measures of sympathy and anticipated their negatively and positively valenced moral emotions (i.e., guilt and pride) following actions that either violated or upheld moral norms. Results demonstrated an age-related increase in sharing between ages 4 and 8. For children with low levels of sympathy, sharing was predicted by negatively valenced moral emotions following the failure to perform prosocial duties. Sympathy also emerged as a significant predictor of sharing behaviour in early childhood. The implications of these results are discussed in relation to children’s developing norms of fairness and the emergence of two compensatory emotional pathways to altruistic sharing, one via sympathy and one via negatively valenced moral emotions.

Body-related envy is an understudied emotion that may be linked with adverse psychophysiological outcomes such as stress (Smith & Kim, 2007). The purpose of this study was to explore body-related envy and psychophysiological response of stress among young adult females. Participants (N = 47; Mage = 21.6 ± 1.8 yrs) completed a weeklong assessment of phenomenological body-related envy, trait body image constructs and an acute laboratory stress-induction task. Findings support the hypothesis that negative body image constructs predict experiences of body-related envy (R2 = 0.17 - 0.54), and that envy can be reliability assessed using phenomenological ratings. Body-related envy was a significant predictor of psychological appraisals of stress (R2 = 0.24 - 0.31), but the proposed associations with physiological stress were not supported. Considering the adverse health outcomes associated with envy (Smith, et al., 1999) and stress (Anderson, 1998), this study has important implications for women’s psychological and physical health.

Affective reactions to unfair treatment date back to the earliest work on organizational justice. Seminal research on inequity identifies anger and guilt as primary responses to judgments of low justice. More recently, interpersonal justice has been linked to emotions such as anger and hostility. In fact, interpersonal justice is arguably the most emotionally charged of all the justice types. Yet, despite the strong theoretical support and empirical evidence linking interpersonal justice to negative emotions, we are unsure whether dignity and respect from a supervisor may also influence positive emotions. Justice scholars have also begun to investigate the moderating influence of status on to the effects of interpersonal justice. It has been suggested, and empirically demonstrated, that people of lower objective status (hierarchical position, race) react more strongly to fairness relative to those higher in status. However, we do not yet know how the effects of interpersonal justice may be moderated by employees’ perceptions of personal status, workgroup status, or supervisor status. Furthermore, scholars have yet to examine the moderating influence of status on emotional reactions to interpersonal justice. In this dissertation, I answer recent calls for further investigation into the relationships between interpersonal justice and emotions and between interpersonal justice and status. Specifically, I draw from affective events theory and self-enhancement theory to develop a model of interpersonal justice, status, and emotions. In this model, I hypothesize a mediating effect of emotions on the relationships between interpersonal justice and a number of distal attitudes and behaviors. I further predict a moderating influence of justice orientation and three types of status—personal (self) status, workgroup status, and supervisor status—on the interpersonal justice to emotions relationships. A sample of 427 university-based military cadets provided partial support for my model. As expected, interpersonal justice predicted a number of important distal outcomes indirectly through both positive and negative emotions. Personal status, supervisor status, and justice orientation moderated several of the relationships between interpersonal justice and emotions. Implications for practice and theory are discussed.

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